Virginia Governor Mark R. Warner and Microsoft Corp. announced today in Portsmouth the formation of a relationship to support and expand the Virginia School Turnaround Specialist Program (VSTSP) for principals. As part of the Governor's Education for a Lifetime initiative, the program teaches school administrators proven business management skills, places them in charge of persistently low-performing schools, and works with local divisions to give these new principals expanded power to help turn their school around. Last spring Warner awarded a $1.4 million contract to the University of Virginia's Darden/Curry Partnership for Leaders in Education to implement VSTSP. Today Microsoft announced it will invest up to $3 million in the VSTSP over the next five years, through its Partners in Learning initiative, in collaborative projects aimed at addressing student achievement.

As part of Microsoft's U.S. Partners in Learning, Virginia, Microsoft and the Darden/Curry Partnership will increase district support for the VSTSP, provide a digital forum to share and access multimedia case studies, create a sustainable funding mechanism to ensure the long-term success of the program, and develop a model for the turnaround specialist concept that can be scaled across the nation.